New English Translation
Isaiah 19:11
11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice. How dare you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the sages, one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?”
Isaiah 19:11 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
- New International Version (NIV)The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings”?
- English Standard Version (ESV)The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, The son of ancient kings?”
Context of Isaiah 19:11
9Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed; those who weave will turn pale. 10Those who make cloth will be demoralized; all the hired workers will be depressed. The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice. How dare you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the sages, one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” 12But where, oh where, are your wise men? Let them tell you, let them find out what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt. 13The officials of Zoan are fools, the officials of Memphis are misled; the rulers of her tribes lead Egypt astray.
Read all of Isaiah 19Isaiah 19:11 word by word
אַךְ־אֱוִלִים֙ שָׂ֣רֵי צֹ֔עַן חַכְמֵי֙ יֹעֲצֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֔ה עֵצָ֖ה נִבְעָרָ֑ה אֵ֚יךְ תֹּאמְר֣וּ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה בֶּן־חֲכָמִ֥ים אֲנִ֖י בֶּן־מַלְכֵי־קֶֽדֶם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Surely the princesשַׂרώar · rulerH8269
- of Zoanצֹ֫עַןtsô‛an · ZoanH6814
- foolsאֱוִיל'ĕvîyl · fool(ish)H191
- the counselעֵצָה‛êtsâh · counselH6098
- of the wiseחָכָםchâkâm · wiseH2450
- counsellorsיָעַץyâ‛ats · to adviseH3289
- of Pharaohפַּרְעֹהpar‛ôh · PharaohH6547
- is become brutishבָּעַרbâ‛ar · be brutishH1197
- how sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- the sonבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- of ancientקֶ֫דֶםqedem qêdmâh · front: oldH6924
- kingsמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
Cross-references for Isaiah 19:11
- Isaiah 19:3The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.
- Isaiah 29:14Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people – an absolutely extraordinary deed. Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations.”
- Isaiah 44:25who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish,
- Job 5:12He frustrates the plans of the crafty so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had planned!
- Job 12:17He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools.
- Psalms 33:10The Lord frustrates the decisions of the nations; he nullifies the plans of the peoples.
- Jeremiah 49:7The Lord who rules over all spoke about Edom. “Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman? Can Edom’s counselors not give her any good advice? Has all of their wisdom turned bad?
- Ezekiel 7:26Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.
- 1 Corinthians 1:19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”
- Isaiah 30:4Though his officials are in Zoan and his messengers arrive at Hanes,
- Numbers 13:22When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
- Psalms 78:12He did amazing things in the sight of their ancestors, in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
- Ezekiel 30:14I will desolate Pathros, I will ignite a fire in Zoan, and I will execute judgments on Thebes.
- Psalms 73:22I was ignorant and lacked insight; I was as senseless as an animal before you.
- Psalms 92:6The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this; the fool does not understand this.
- Proverbs 30:2Surely I am more brutish than any other human being, and I do not have human understanding;
Commentaries on Isaiah 19:11
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish "Have counseled a brutish counsel" - The sentence as it now stands in the Hebrew, is imperfect: it wants the verb. Archbishop Secker conjectures that the words פרעה יועצי yoatsey pharoh should be transposed; which would in some degree remove the difficulty. But it is to be observed, that the translator of the Vulgate seems to have found in his copy the verb יעצו yaatsu added after פרעה pharoh…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11Surely the princes - The following verses, to Isaiah 19:16, are designed to describe further the calamities that were coming upon Egypt by a want of wisdom in their rulers. They would be unable to devise means to meet the impending calamities, and would actually increase the national misery by their unwise counsels. The word princes‘ here is taken evidently for the rulers or counselors of state. Of Zoan - The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Chaldee, render this…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 11Zoan was the capital of Egypt, located in the Nile delta (see Numbers 13:22). princes … wise counselors: The king relied on the strategies and advice of wise men (Isaiah 19:12; see Genesis 41:39–40). The officials of Zoan were famous for their wise ancestors, and Egypt often boasted about them.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1111. Zoan--The Greeks called it Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, east of the Tanitic arms of the Nile, now San; it was one the Egyptian towns nearest to Palestine (Nu 13:22), the scene of Moses' miracles (Psa 78:12, 43). It, or else Memphis, was the capital under Sethos. I am ... son of the wise ... kings--Ye have no advice to suggest to Pharaoh in the crisis, notwithstanding that ye boast of descent from wise and royal ancestors. The priests were the usual…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 19:11
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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